RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Well, thought all was well for the finger. I have been able to use it digging in the dirt and such for a while now. There was a bit of bone sticking out the end where the dead tip have pealed away like a scab but figured that was a simple matter to snip off by the doc on the next visit. Turns out I needed minor reconstructive surgery to remove that bone and also to remove some flesh near the end that was causing the fingernail to turn upwards. He shortened the finger a little to address all that and have enough skin to pull over things. Still got a fingernail, just it'll be a bit shorter and things. Doesn't hurt nearly as bad as the initial injury did. I'm just bummed that I'm back to having stitches for another month and it'll be close to 2 months before I can use the finger tip to do things like dig in the dirt again. I've also been out of work and so it'll be around 2 more months before I can restart the job hunt. Boredom is an evil thing. You can just see the new fingernail growing out. He cut a lump of flesh off that was in front of it and the rest of the finger in front of the nail for that matter. Still a lot of dried blood I need to clean off and he only used 2 or 3 stitches. He said once it heals and the fingernail grows out more the finger will look pretty normal, just a bit shorter. Surprisingly it really doesn't hurt even when I haven't taken a vike for 10 or 12 hours. As said, it should heal faster this time because it's not as damaged as the initial injury. Doc says in under 2 months I can start using it again like normal and start my job search again.
Posted on: 5/20/2011 2:20 PM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10531561

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Thanks for all the support. Still typing with one hand but looks like I get to keep the finger tip. Stitches are out. It turned black on me but doc said that will peal off like a scab and that it heals from inside out. Just bored out of my mind since i am not allowed to use that finger yet and that limits my things i can do, not to mention the weather here near cleveland has been real bad. one of the worst winters i can remember. it's starting to break now so i look forward to at least going on walks in the park. feel like i'm in prison. hope he lets me start using finger by april or may because i always plant a big veggy garden. will be harder to do if i can't use the finger yet. i'm allowed to bend it, just not to pick things up with it or touch/push with it. Yes, the parkzone micro spectrum gear is the way to go, and you can buy a cheap radio for that stuff south of $50 if you want. I fly that gear in my Ember 2, which comes with the radio you can use if you buy the radio package for like $99. Best micro plane i have flown yet. real lazy front yard plane. I'll try to stop in more often. just hate typing one handed because i can normly type very fast the proper way. Saucerguy, pear/rasberry wine came out great. we used real pears but juicy juice rasberry/apple juice to add to it....about 3 gal of juice but with 30+ pounds of pears you can hardly taste the rasberry.
Posted on: 3/3/2011 11:49 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10376784

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Terry, great motor. it'll be a fast bird, or prop it for torque. that motor will do either. i'd go for torque. i think it will swing a 9 o 10" prop.
Posted on: 2/7/2011 7:22 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10318485

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Saucerguy, great looking plane! Big enough ailerons and low wing loading to be a 3D plane if you put a big prop on it, though the tail controls might have to be bigger.
Posted on: 2/7/2011 7:19 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10318476

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Sorry I haven't been posting lately. About a month ago i cut a good half inch or so of my finger tip off on my middle finger in a snow blower. Doc stitched it back on but still don't know if i get to keep it. See him again tomorrow. Even if he takes it back off i'll still feel lucky. Could have been whole finger or the tip of my index finger. Another guy at emergency room did same thing with a snowblower and lost three, only one of which could be put back on, so i feel real lucky. Right now it's white as cotton so not sure if it stays. Doc said not sewing it back on and shortening finger a bit more to have enough skin to fold over and cover end heals much faster if he does that. my main problem is boredom. can't do much since using that hand is off limits. Guess i picked right time of year because the weather has been real bad here near cleveland for two months anyway. typing one handed also stinks. i'm normaly a very fast typist. Welcome to the new guy! No, this thread will never die. We learn new things all the time for other builds and share it here. To strengthen booms i used to put arrow shafts in them, glued to a wing arrow shaft for extra strength. Now i still put a shaft in the wing- two, one near leading edge and one near rear, but i just sheet the left/right sides of booms in 1/8th inch balsa. VERY strong! The arrow shaft in wing should just be flush with bottom of wing so the balsa on booms glues/contacts with it. this is a weak spot on this design so make sure you do that. I also sheet right/left sides of fuse with balsa. to sheet fuse/booms just spread a little gorilla glue, tape plus put weight on it until dry, then cut or grind off excess balsa. no need to cut to outline before hand and much less hassle because the balsa would be tricky to line up, so cut or grind off later. Some don't strenghthen booms and only use clear or extreme strapping tape to cover booms. Fisher does that.
Posted on: 2/7/2011 7:12 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10318465

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
I'll be starting the build for the EDF Hotliner style plane later today I think. Will have some pictures when progress is made.
Posted on: 1/4/2011 6:28 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10238459

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Thanks guys. What really burns me about the whole thing is that my uncle had me doing all kinds of errands for him in the last few years leading up to his death. Cutting his lawn, snowblowing the driveway, starting up his generator when the power went out. Yet my brother never could seem to find the time to even go over there to say Hi. So why then would he feel that half of the estate is his and that the rest of us didn't deserve our share? Heck, I even wiped the guy's butt for him when he was too sick to take care of himself. I had plans for my share. Not to buy things but to pay off some bills and also help a few friends out that could have used some money for situations they were in. I was also going to put new windows on my mom's house for her. Needless to say those two haven't done anything for my mom. My brother is blowing the money on toys because he's very materialistic that way, and my sister from what I hear is holding on to every last dime because she's very tight with money. In fact, her daughter has had to borrow money from my mom because she lost her job while my sister won't even see fit to help her own daughter out. Reason why I know I wouldn't have done the same thing is because I was tested in a similar situation about five years ago. I was on the farm of a very wealthy man when his farm hand was driving us drunk across the property in a golf cart. I kept telling him to slow down but he didn't, and as a result he wrecked into a dead fall. I ended up with a large branch about the diameter of your thumb going almost completely through my arm. Had to have surgery to repair things. I could have sued the farm owner. Had a friend of the family who is a lawyer keep telling me I could get a cool million for this. Thought about it and then decided otherwise because I wouldn't in good conscience be able to enjoy that money. I'm not that kind of person. So I don't have to sit around and wonder if I would have really let greed take over and screw my brothers and sisters out of money I knew they were supposed to get.
Posted on: 1/4/2011 6:26 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10238453

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
I know what you mean about the holidays. I don't care for them anyway but this year in particular wasn't fun. Long story short I've got two brothers and two sisters. My uncle passed away this past year and had no kids. He had A LOT of money, a lot of property, and some nice cars. Estate was worth well over half a million. Anyway, he had told us in the past that we'd be splitting his estate some day. Turns out the will didn't specify who gets what, but rather put my oldest sister and brother in charge of it to disperse. As a result they both took half and lied to us about their intentions until it was too late to do anything about it. As a result it's split the family apart. I'll never talk to him or her again. They really didn't need the money, while the other three of us did in a big way. Showed me that they cared more about money and having a bunch of toys (the brother bought to Harleys) than the needs of their other brothers and sisters. Life's too short to associate with people like that so they are cut out of my life. I know I never would have been able to enjoy that money in good conscience knowing I was screwing my brothers and sisters like that. I guess they can.
Posted on: 1/3/2011 6:47 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10235997

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Thanks. Since it's my own design it shouldn't have any kit version of it, but I know what you mean. The wing has two carbon arrow shafts joined at the center sunk into it so it can more than handle the stresses such a light plane would put on it. My friend maidened it for me with no problems. He's got way more stick time than me lately so I used caution and had him launch/land it. I took over the sticks in the air some. I always build heavy with a lot of strength mods. Still used a good bit more of that than I needed in building it but the two carbon arrow shaft fuse allowed me to still build something very light. I didn't have anything in my hangar that was nearly this light in terms of wing loading, not to mention the half glider/half slow stick type design is something I don't have anything like in my line up. It should be a fun plane on those calm days, though it did handle some wind that day without any major problems. I only have one plane with landing gear, my P38, and that plane only survived a few flights before needing some repair which I haven't done yet, so I look forward to some touch and goes and such with this one. I've got two EDF/motor power systems that have yet to go into a plane that would fly. I kept building highly experimental platforms for them so as a result I have yet to fly those things in anything. For that reason my next build is going to be EDF powered. Like the stick glider, this platform will also be a half breed. It's going to be a hotliner/glider style plane that falls somewhere between that and a fast pylon racer style plane. Will be throwing some pictures up when I make some progress on that.
Posted on: 1/3/2011 6:41 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10235981

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
By the way, the pic makes the wing look wavey but it's not. Something about the way this website processes the picture for expansion when you click on it makes the thing look like it has ripples in it. I think she's a good looking bird!
Posted on: 12/30/2010 9:50 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10227484

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Well said about the thread's intent and sharing life's little topics of interest. Yes, drinking wine with a lot of live yeast in it will keep you running to the bathroom for sure. We plan to do our second racking (first was of course from primary bucket to carboy) from carboy to carboy this Sunday. This is the racking were you lose a lot of volume due to all that sediment that came along from the primary bucket. Can't be helped. We are either going to add more raspberry juice to it (will have to put sorbate in and campden to prevent any more fermentation on the new juice added, which we don't want), or we'll just add water. That's why we like to go heavy on the fruit. Adding water won't water things down if you do, but just the same I think we are going to lose perhaps 1 & 1/2 to 2 gallons because there is that much sediment in the 5 gallon carboy. With that much to replace I don't want to just add water, and pure juice might mob the pears and you would only taste the Raspberry, so I'm thinking perhaps 50% juice/50% water might be a nice compromise. Even those kits for like $35 to $45 are a great way to save money. I'm talking those kits that have all the juice/ingredients and not a hardware kit. Great thing about those is you just dump in this and that when it says to do it. No guessing, hydrometers (which I still haven't used one yet), acid test kits, or other stuff. They test the juice before making the kit, supplying you with the proper amounts of things like acid blend to add to the juice at various points. We might try one of those next. I know if you can pick the fruit for free that's cheapest (like the pears we got), but if you don't have any free fruit by the time you buy the fruit or juice and sugar it's just about the same price as one of those kits (unless you buy the fruit or juice on sale and such). Still, the only thing I don't like about those kits is it takes the mystery and wondering about how things will turn out out of the equation. They are a good way to learn though, and so we might try one next and see how things are done using one of those. Hope you guys had good holidays. Oh, and I flew the red dual boomer some yesterday as well. Landing in the snow and slid like twenty feet. Next flight I was about to launch the motor was jamming up losing sync. I think snow got into the vent holes for the ESC I have on the belly from that long snow slide and got the ESC wet. Hoping once it dries out the ESC will work fine again. It's not a motor winding short. If that was the case you'd feel the motor was real hot when you put your hand on it. That's a good way to tell if it's the motor or the ESC.
Posted on: 12/30/2010 9:48 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10227482

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Those pics were kind'a hard to see the plane in, so here's a much better one. It maidened yesterday and flew great without a hitch, just needing some trimming on the radio, rates adjustment, and the one ounce of nose weight because it was acting tail heavy. Couldn't be happier with it! Landings and take offs in a parking lot! She's a real floater! I took the cautious route since I haven't flown in a while and had a friend maiden the plane for me since his skills weren't rusty. I let him do the take offs/landings and I took over the sticks when it was up in the air just to scrape the rust off my skills. She flew about 3 or 4 times getting the trim/nose weight/rates right and now she's smooth as silk. Any time you come home from a maiden without a wrecked plane is a big bonus, and if it did crash I could have blamed him. I can't move the battery any further forward without risking it getting hit by the folding prop, so the nose weight was required. However, I may build a basswood battery box for it slug under the fuse where it is now. That would make installs of the battery easier (it's a pain messing with two velcro loops that are in a criss cross pattern to hold the sides/front/back of the lipo from all sides) and also provide a bit of "constructive" weight where I could then remove some or all of the one ounce led noise weight. I figure a enclosed flat box that just bearly fits the lipo inside it. One side of the box would be open so the lipo would just slide in sideways, with a single velcro strap over that side of the box to contain it. I was looking through some hi-tech glider stats and my wing loading is right in line with most of those at just over 7 ounces. I wonder how well this plane would do in doors? [8D]
Posted on: 12/30/2010 9:33 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10227454

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Finished up my stick glider, which I’m calling the Yellow Jacket because of the color scheme. It’s design and wing falls somewhere in between a glider and a Slow Stick/Slow-V type plane. I’m hoping it will do both some thermal riding as well as some very slow flying, sort of combining both worlds from gliders and Slow Stick type airframes. By far this is the lightest plane I’ve ever built thanks to the twin carbon arrow shaft “fuse� booms glued side by side, despite my ever present tendency to over do the strength mods like I do with all my planes. The wing loading is also the by far the lowest I’ve done. She should be a real floater even at almost non-existent speeds lofting slowly just above the ground, but also with the ability to ride the faintest of thermal action on calm days. This is also the first time I’m using something other than my standard 2200ma 3 cell lipo, this time using a 750ma 3 cell Rhino pack. I only did that because I bought these packs to convert my metal detector to run on them to save some weight. Another first for me is having landing gear. I figured having such low drag with the almost non-existent fuse I could burn a little on some landing gear. The tail end uses the head of a zip tie as a skid plate. So with all that in mind, here’s the stats on this puppy. Yellow Jacket Stick Glider (For My Reference, Radio Name Is YEL) Wing: Hotwired EPS foam. Two carbon arrow shafts joined at the center to strengthen it and hold the dihedral. Wing bolts on via two nylon bolts. Shimmed almost ¼� in the back for incidence. Airfoil: Slightly Modified USA27 Wingspan: 47� Root: 7 5/8� Tips: 6 1/8� Trailing Edge Swept Forward 1 ½�. Leading Edge is straight. COG: 2 & 1/4� From Leading Edge (I Hope) Wing Area: 323.125 sq. inches Wing Loading: 7.531 oz/sq.ft (Including 1 ounce nose weight…see below. She should be a real floater! I think the lightest I’ve done so far was like 10 to 12oz or so.) AUW: 16.9 oz (Wow! That’s real light for me! And one ounce of that is a led nose weight because I couldn’t move the battery any further forward without risking hitting the folding prop.) Tail Feathers: Cell Foam 88 strengthened with bamboo skewers & some flat sticks. Plane Length From Trailing Edge Of V-Stab To Tip Of Spinner Cone: 34 ¾� Controls: Rudder/Elevator Wing/Tail Covering: Ultra Coat Yellow With Black Stripes & Black Bottom Of Tail For Orientation At Far Distances RX: JR Sport Servos: Two HXT900’s Motor: Blue Wonder Alex Custom Wind. 1300 k/v 13 Turn Y Prop Options: 7x5, 7x6SF, 8x3.8SF, 8x4 (All should be under 10 amps) Prop: Siren EP Hotliner 8x4 Folder ESC: Tower Pro Mag 8 20 Amp Lipo: 3 Cell Rhino 750ma 20C Amp Draw: Somewhere south of 10 amps Sorry about the picture quality. The colors look washed out. It’s a very bright/solid yellow color and not what the pics show. Felt good to build a plane again. This one went together real fast but I ran into some odd problems that took time to resolve. Hope to maiden it with Alex this week.
Posted on: 12/30/2010 9:28 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10227443

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Hey Saucerguy, take my advice...After sampling both batches of our wine right after fermentation was done they were darn nasty. It's amazing how much the taste improves after only a few weeks to a month after fermentation, and of course it gets even better as time goes further on. Our pear wine (really it's called a perry when made with pears) can be bottled/drank fast like ciders and certain other wines can. We bottled/drank our first batch in 9 weeks and it could have been done sooner than that. We are shooting for less time than that with this batch because we know what we are doing with the sediment now (siphon off the juice and don't even mess with the sediment). Just letting you know that if you wait a month or so it will taste much better. I could hardly stomach ours early on. Man, what a difference.
Posted on: 12/28/2010 5:09 PM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10223763

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Happy to say we just racked from the primary to the carboy yesterday and all seems well. That was about 5 or 6 days of visible fermentation in that the breather was bubbling. I've ran into a few PITA issues with the completion of the stick glider but it should be done in a day or so when I get to it. Once done I'll be throwing up some more pics and data on it.
Posted on: 12/27/2010 12:50 PM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10221126

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Know what you mean about how things change when you are at the grocery store looking for juice through the eyes of a wine maker. It can be pasteruized, it can be filtered, but it can't have any Sorbate, sulphites, or say anything else about preservatives. That will stop the yeast from working it's magic. Saturday at around 4PM we dumped the 30 pounds of pears plus 10 pounds of sugar and a gallon and a half of raspberry/apple Juicey Juice brand juice, about a gallon to two of boiled (cooled down) water to top it off, along with pectic enzyme (helps to break the fruit down), acid blend, and 7 campden tablets (1 per gal). We left about 3 inches of head space in case it foamed when the yeast started working. It's important to wait 24 hours after this before putting the yeast and yeast nutrient into it because the campden (sulphites) that sterilize things need that long to go away so it doesn't hurt your yeast. We only waited about 18 hours and we had problems (see below), but it turns out it wasn't the campden. The fruit was half frozen and that along with putting the bucket in the cold basement didn't allow the yeast to start working. Since we had put the yeast/nutrient in Saturday at around 9AM or so, come Monday when we didn't see any bubbling from the breather we started to wonder why. Well, we brought the bucket upstairs and it still felt ice cold, so we then taped a heating pad to the side of the bucket and put it on high. That night (Monday) we still didn't see any bubbling. The bucket temp was probably 65 degrees or so, so we figured it might be still too cold and we'd let the heating pad work over night. This morning (Tuesday) it was bubbling madly. Checked the temp of the must and it was 82 degrees. That's a little iffy, because best heat for champain yeast is 70-75. Since the yeast was going like wild we took the heating pad off and are monitoring the temperture. Since the house is about 66 or 67 degrees I bet now that the yeast is going it won't need the heating pad, but will watch the bubbling because it should bubble for at least around a week. Somebody told me to bring the temp back up to about 72 degrees when it looks like it's done just to be sure all the sugar has converted. The alchohol/temp thing is that once the alchohol gets real high the yeast might go dormant if the temp is too cold, so it's good to get it to 70-75 to be sure it's really done and not just sleeping, otherwise your wine might be too sweet having not ate all the sugar. Anyway, had it not started fermenting this morning we were going to go get another packet of champain yeast and start that in some warm water along with a teaspoon of sugar or so. Once it starts foaming/blooming in an hour or two you throw that in. We never have done that and just sprinkle the yeast in. If the temp is lower than 70 it's probably a good idea to start the yeast in a cup of warm water/sugar to get it going. So it was about two days from yeast to when it started fermenting, once we got the temp up above 70. I was starting to get worried because the longer you go without the yeast working the more chance of bacteria or bad yeast taking over. The fumes from the breather smell sweet and wine like so I think we are OK. The 7 Campden tablets should have killed anything anyway in there. I learned a big lesson. The wine should be 70 to 75 degrees when getting the yeast to start. After that I hear you can let it get down to say 65 or so because the yeast now has momentum, but 70 to 75 is best. Also, the cooler it is the longer fermenting takes. And, fermenting fast (say keeping the temp above 75 to like 80 or more) is not a good thing either. The yeast can burn it's self out and also cause off flavors. We are going to do our best to keep it at 70 to 75 for a week, but if it drops to say 66 and is still bubbling well then we aren't going to throw the heating pad back on. When it looks like it's stopped in say a week we'll put the pad on and get it up above 70 again to make sure it really is done. I was sick with worry that all that good fruit was going to go bad on us if we couldn't kick it into gear. I was pretty sure it was the temp but I was also splashing the juice/must a lot when stirring to release any gas from the Campden tablets. They say to do that to get it out of there. Stirring twice a day now. Watching temp. Everything looks fine. Oh, one final tip from a newbie. On our last batch we were getting a rotten egg smell. That's normal, but usually an indication that the yeast doesn't have certain vitamins or minerals that are found in the yeast nutrient. We had only put in about half the amount with the last batch, where as we put in the right amount with this batch to guard against that. It still didn't effect the taste of the wine because you just splash it when stirring to release it, and also splash rack it a few times (pour it through a funnel) when racking the first and second time or so.
Posted on: 12/21/2010 1:10 PM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10210102

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
I would figure that would work fine, so long as you kept the hot wire temperture low enough to melt the foam but not dig into your formers, or at least try to move fast. An alternative would be to trace out the contours onto the foam and then cut near those lines, sanding the final shapes out. I ran into a problem with my stick glider. Got everything finished up and just needed to shim the wing and then re-check COG to find the final spot for the battery and then glue on the velcro loops to hold it there. Went to remove the nylon wing bolts. Forget the size but they are smaller than the standard 1/4" (or whatever) I normaly use. Anyway, I always use two dowl rods sunk/glued into a foam fuse and then drill/tap the bolt holes for the two bolts. I feel using thick dowl (almost the diameter of a hot dog I'd say) provides more grab area so that the wing doesn't pull out of the fuse on a crash or something. Well, I didn't think using dowl rods would be the best method for securing the wing bolts on this stick frame, so I drilled two holes through the carbon fuse then CA'd two blind nuts onto the bottom of the carbon for them to thread into. I had screwed the two nylon bolts down first into the blind nuts to make sure they were sitting exactly where I needed them to line things up, and then used CA around the edges of the blind nuts to lock them in place. Low and behold I thought I did a good job of just getting CA at the outter edges of the blind nuts without any chance of it wicking over to the nylon bolts. Nope, can't remove the stinking bolts! I don't have any CA disolver so that's out, so I'm looking for ideas on how to fix this. I could cut the heads off the bolts and then pry the blind nuts free with a screwdriver or something and use two new bolts/nuts, or I was thinking I could heat up the metal blind nuts and that would soften the bolts where they are touching them and probably allow me to unscrew them. The other idea would be to drill them out inside the blind nuts but I don't know how well that would work either. I could use some ideas on this. It's kind'a frustrating to be this close to a completed bird and then have something stupid I did cause me to not be able to take it for a maiden. Also, I didn't put any motor thrust angle in and I didn't put incidence into the tail either, which is my normal routine to slightly cock up the leading edge of the tail feathers. I'm not too experienced at shimming wings so I could use a best guess on the amount of shim (in inches) to place at the back of the wing. On wine, today I think we are going to make our second batch. This time we are going to use pears again as I froze over 30 pounds from my neighbor's tree that we used for the last batch. Instead of 6 pounds of white rasins we are going to put in two gallons of rasberry/apple juice along with the 10 pounds of sugar. It's the Juicy Juice brand, which is 100% juice with no preservatives and on sale right now at Giant Eagle. Two 1/2 gallon jugs for $5. I was tempted to pick up the Kiwi/Strawberry as that's on sale too. Also, a small tip: I had a coupon for .68 cents off a 5 gallon bag of sugar for Giant Eagle and thought that was a great buy off the like $3.85 price tag. I was at Walmart later and noticed their Great Value Walmart brand sugar was like $2.54 for a 5 pound bag. That's pretty darn cheap. Also picked up a few packs of champain yeast at the local wine supply store and they were only like .45 cents a pack. I hear if you are doing up to 5 gallons in the primary then one pack is fine, but if it's more than 5 then you should use two packs.
Posted on: 12/18/2010 6:33 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10204216

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
There was/is a great thread on RCGroups about showing off your scratch built foam motorized gliders. One of the planes that really caught my fancy was this one a guy dreamed up and built in the pics below. I may have to try my hand at building this thing, as he was kind enough to post some specs on it for everybody. Just love the looks of it, but I'll probably build it in EPS as always. Here's that thread... http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=595238
Posted on: 12/17/2010 7:13 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10202399

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
I've just about finished the Stick Glider and will be throwing up some new pictures of it that are easier to see details in. Just have to re-solder a few motor bullet plugs that I shortened, shim the back of the wing, glue in the battery velcro loops where I want them for precise COG balance, and make up some removable landing gear. This has for sure been one of the easiest/fastest builds I've ever done due to having no body to sand/cover or having to sink the electronics.
Posted on: 12/17/2010 6:13 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10202304

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Good point about the slow stick/slo-v designs. As for wine, all fruit has wild yeast on it, so if you don't put in the Campden tablets are are late to putting in your own yeast things can go south. On the other hand, some don't use Campden and things work fine, and on another hand some even ferment the wine using no added yeast. They let the wild yeast do it's thing, though it's a much slower process and risks off flavors if the wrong kind gets going.
Posted on: 12/16/2010 12:06 PM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10200885

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
If he's that experienced then by far I would rely on his input, as I've only made one batch of wine thus far and am reading what books I can from the library with much still yet to learn. I just know that from what I've been told champain yeast gives a good flavor without as much risk of off flavors and such, not to mention being more robust in a high alchohol content, although I think there are several other yeasts that can survive at even high ABV. The other reason why you want a good hardy yeast is so that it crowds out any wild yeasts or bacteria that are trying to live in the wine. The quicker the wanted yeast gets a foot hold and crowds out unwanted things the better. That's why Campden tablets are important to some people. You put that in at one per gallon when you first dump the fruit and such into the primary. It sterilizes the wine, killing off bacteria and wild yeasts. 24 hours later you put in your yeast, and ones like champain yeast can tolerate the sulfite (campden tablets) better while others can't. Some people don't even use campden tablets, or use roughly half what it calls for as sulfite is one of the things that cause headaches. The cleaner you are the less you need to use them or not at all. I think it also prevents oxidation and gives off CO2 gas to fill up the head space in the wine but I could be wrong about that. My guideline is 1 per gallon (crush it up and mix well) in the primary, then 1 per gallon every 3 months after that, preferably when racking it. On our pear wine we didn't know the rules and only used 3 in the 7 gallon primary and then 1 per racking. Despite how many times we splash racked the wine as a result of trying to squeeze juice out of the sediment and pouring through a funnel the wine didn't oxidize. Another trick: Most people like the primary to be a gallon or two bigger than the secondary, as you can pour any excess juice into another gallon jug or two. Then when you rack the wine the first time or two and lose a good bit of volume due to sediment you just pour in the juice from the gallon jugs. Or, just go heavy on your fruit per gallon and just add water and it won't water the wine down. Some use glass marbles to make up for lost volume or even pour a bottle of wine in. Mainly once fermentation stops or is very slow and thus it's not giving off much C02 gas to protect it that's when you have to worry about too much head space. Three fingers tall in the secondary. In the primary it doesn't really matter with the fermation gases creating a CO2 blanket over it to protect it. In Italy many old schoolers pour olive oil on top of the wine to protect it as it will float on top and seal it, and then head space isn't a problem. Some even use a bottle of CO2 gas to fill up excess head space. Thanks for the info on the stick glider. Without much fuse hanging below the wing I was a bit worried that it my counter act the dihedral and cause instability. I did some more work on it this morning. ESC wires shortened, extended servo wire soldered in where I needed things to reach, wing mounted with plastic nylon bolts. Just have to shim the wing in the back, solder up the newly shortened motor wires, re-check COG battery placement and then glue in the velcro loops to hold it where I want it, and then build some landing gear. Anxious to see the final AUW weight so I can computer wing loading, which I expect to be the lowest on any plane I've ever built. This plane is a type of hybrid. Not quite a Slow Stick or Slow V (a bit longer wingspan and not as wide), and not quite a glider (a bit shorter wingspan and a bit wider of a wing), so it's a true hybrid that I hope will retain some traits of both types of planes. Should be able to fly at walking speeds lightly and easily just off the ground, while also being able to float on the lightest of thermals. I've always enjoyed a friend's lighter builds in this respect with the ease of very slow flight ability if wanted on those windless days when you just want to take things super slow or catch a very light thermal or two. Not that my So or my 6 foot wingspan glider won't fly at some really low speeds, but just the same they are a fair bit heavier and certain qualities are gained and lost at higher weights. Just like the So...A few versions of that that I built in the past were very light (for me), closer to the I think intended 15 ounce AUW weight. Those builds showed certain abilities such as that 360 turn around on a dime type deal the So is known for. A bit up elevator and a hard left or right and the plane almost seems to stop in mid air and turn around in one spot. My current So still retains some of this ability but not nearly as well, but on the other hand it's heavier weight gives it other advantages such as handling higher winds with greater ease. I can't remember off hand but I think my current so is like 27 or 32 ounces in AUW. Maybe as low as 24oz but I doubt that. Still, with the oversized H-stab and dual rudders of a So design it still has great low speed traction and handling ability. Being a pusher also helps in that respect because of the direct air flow over the tail surfaces even at very low throttle.
Posted on: 12/16/2010 6:33 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10200492

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Also, some yeasts (and especially bread yeasts) can give off flavors to wine, so I'm staying away from them. I'm sure there are reasons why some people like to use them, though, in particular in beer I could see why you'd want certain "bready" or "grainy" flavors. Ran across this cool thread in the scratch built foamie forum on RCGroups and felt it would fit perfectly in this thread with the theme being cheap and easy and not always EPS construction (though I prefer it). It's a glider with a 60" span built from a single sheet of dollar store poster board. Talk about cheap and simple, and for a pretty good sized glider. The weight is real low too. I'm not a big fan of flat foam planes but I just might build this one, or should I say my own variation of it as I never like to follow other's plans and always have a few design ideas I want to try. I figure a variation of this glider should be a good candidate for my Rhino 750ma 3 cell packs. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1138106
Posted on: 12/15/2010 12:39 PM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10199065

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
For our first attempt at "wine" (with Pears it's called a Perry) we used champain yeast. Not only is this stuff more robust than bread yeasts, it will survive into higher alchohol contents to achieve higher ABV (Alchohol By Volume) levels, where as other yeasts might peter out at a much lower alchohol level. That being said, this stuff still completed primary fermentation in only about 5 to 7 days. When we transfered it to the secondary (glass jug) we never again saw any traces of fermentation such as the occasional bubble in the breather. In fact, it tasted totally dry at that time and having used 10 pounds of sugar it appeared it had all been converted to alchohol (7 gallon primary, 5 gallon secondary). The other thing about bread and certain other yeasts is that they create a lot of foaming action, requiring you to provide a good amount of head space in the primary to prevent it foaming over. We only kept about 2 to 3 inches of space in the primary bucket and still we never saw any foam rise above the very surface of the must. I've heard horror stories where even in the secondary a wine will foam out if you are using certain yeasts. The one thing to watch out for with any yeast is a sulfur smell as it ferments in the primary. While this is a natural process, if that gas stays trapped in the wine for too long it can start affecting the taste. To get around that besides stirring it well twice a day in the primary, we also "splash racked" the wine the first two rackings. What that involves is simply pouring it through a funnel or otherwise splashing the wine up (egg whisps work well for this) to release the gas. If it still has a sulfur smell when you first open the secondary to check a week or so later then it needs another splash racking. The trick is to know when to quit, because normaly you are trying to avoid exposing the wine to oxygen to prevent oxidizing it, so it goes against the traditional goal when racking. Later rackings we did it the normal way to prevent this, by placing a siphone hose at the bottom of the container we are racking to and allow the wine to flow in under the surface. Campden tablets from what I understand do help prevent oxidation, and actually we probably splash racked the wine 3 or 4 times because we didn't know what we were doing and kept trying to squeeze juice out the of sediment through a mesh bag when we really should have just been dumping that, because most of the sediment kept getting back into the wine. It was only the last racking about 3 or 4 weeks ago that we just siphoned down to the sediment and threw the rest out, so had we done it the proper way from the start I bet we could have bottled in less time than the 9 weeks it took to clear this batch. Saucerguy, did you catch my pictures and update on the previous page at the bottom of my stick glider. Remarks?
Posted on: 12/15/2010 12:14 PM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10199022

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Good way to save some money. I've got enough flat carbon laying around from salvaged planes to keep me from having to buy any for years. I just re-cycle it and carbon tubes whenever possible, but the bambo skewers I used in this build's tail feathers made things pretty stiff too. I've got a few pics of the stick glider's progression. I couldn't get it to balance with a 750ma lipo, so I used my standard 2250ma lipo and it turns out it's perfect for COG with current electronics placement. The 750 3 cells were just ones I had on hand that I bought to power my metal detector anyway, as I prefer 2200ma sized lipos. With the low amp draw of the custom winded blue wonder south of 10 amps being powered by this big of battery, along with this plane's intended low wing loading and generous wing area, I should be able to ride the lightest of thermals all day long with this thing. I've got to cut the wing bolts down to size yet, shorten and clean up the ESC/motor connection wires, and glue in the battery velcro loops. Unlike the pictures show, one strap of the velcro is going to be positioned from front to back of the battery to avoid it sliding forward on an impact. So this plane is just about done. I'm also going to build some removable landing gear for it that I can throw on or take off as wanted. There won't be a tail wheel but rather I'm going to glue a head from a zip tie on the bottom of the tail boom to act as a skid plate. I decided to use a JR Sport RX I had laying around in this plane, as with it's 47" wingspan and thermal intentions this plane will be roaming off at some pretty far distances. These JR RXs are the most glitch free RXs I've ever used and I trust them more at very long distances. The color scheme of the plane is intended to insure high visibility and with the markings on the left side of the wing and tail along with a black tail surface area, it show increase my ability to figure out orientation of the plane in a pinch. The current prop is an APC 7x6SF using a prop saver, but I intend to eventually put either an APC 8x3.8 on it or more likely around an 8x4 folder to reduce the low drag design even further. ESC is a 20 AMP Mag 8 Tower Pro. Servos are HXT900s. The boom/fuse is two carbon arrow shafts glued side by side for maximum stiffness and ease in mounting components to a more broad area. Wing is a 47" slightly modified USA27 airfoil with the trailing edge swept forward. Plane length from tip to tail is roughly about 33". Anxious to complete it and figure out the wing loading. By far it should be the lightest plane I've ever built in those terms. Does anybody think the low wing stance (not much fuse area hanging lower on this plane like most would have) might cause some issues with stability using a rudder and no ailerons, or do you think the dihedral will more than compensate like it would on more conventional designs? Excuse the mess in the garage. I'm over due to give it a good cleaning. The pack of smokes on the table provide scale.
Posted on: 12/15/2010 7:08 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10198395

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Looks good! Is that flat carbon you are using? I prefer that for things like strengthening tail feathers but have been using bambo skewers in my tails here and there. So long as you double them up it's pretty stiff and of course much cheaper. If you like Ciders than I'd suggest trying a pear based wine. When wine is made with pears it's called a Perry and it's sort of a cross between a cider and a wine, though this stuff we made tastes very much like wine to me. Also, I was surprised to find out that pears have more sugar than apples and so higher alchohol potential without adding as much sugar. Pretty soon here I'm going to be posting the recipe we used for our Pear. 5 or more pounds of pears per gallon. If you go heavy on the fruit you can add water to make up for lost head space when racking without fear of watering things down. 10 pounds of sugar (7 gallon primary, so we went with 37 pounds of pears before cutting. Weighing after that it was 30 pounds). 6 pounds of white raisins. This recipe didn't use a Hydrometer or acid test, but rather gives you the amound of citric acid or acid blend to put in along with the yeast and yeast nutrient. Very easy/simple instructions. I'm updating them to include what we did and will be posting that. The stick glider is just about done. Wing and tail are covered. All electronics mounted. I placed the 750ma lipo and wing on it to see if I could achieve COG by moving them around but no dice. I'd need to slide the battery all the way forward and have the ESC under it, but I don't want to do that so I'm opting for my standard size 2250ma lipos and will see if I can get COG that way where I want things. The only reason why I have these 750ma Rhinos is because I bought them to lighten up the weight of my metal detector and power it. I dropped a good pound and a half off my detector by building a custom carbon fiber shaft and used a bike end bar for the hand grip. The stock setup was just too heavy for long 7 hour hunts. Oh well, I guess I can build another plane to use those lipos in. I prefer 2200ma lipos anyway and I should have gobs of run time with the little blue wounder (south of 10 amps) powering the stick glider.
Posted on: 12/14/2010 6:12 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10196143

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Here's that thread on that forum since I've probably talked more than I should in this thread about wine making tips... http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10645
Posted on: 12/9/2010 11:15 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10186517

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Yea, a little diversion into other hobbies/subjects is a good thing for a thread. Like you said, too, it goes along with the money saving theme of this thread by cutting out your own planes, or in this case making your own beer or wine. I just posted a good fast pear wine recipe in that wine making forum I told you about (first one to pop up on google when searching "wine making forum") in the beginners forum under the "Fast" wine thread. It's not the one we used but I'll be posting that one too in a day or two. Once you buy the initial hardware (stay away from the kits and just buy what you need) wine or beer making gets very cheap. I already had a 5 gallon carboy, so I only needed a 7 gallon primary (bucket with a lid) and some odds and ends as far as other hardware. Probably south of $50 in stuff, with bottles and screw caps being extra. Luckily one of the local shops sells screw cap bottles and corked ones that are used for $4 a case (12). It'll take about 27 standard wine bottles to hold 5 gallons of wine. One of the 12 we used were used techila bottles that are I think a "fifth" in size, so we ended up with 20 & 1/2 bottles filled in total. I have a friend who works at a restraunt saving me corked wine bottles because I'll probably buy a corker down the road but using screw cap wine or liquor bottles with metal or plastic screw caps works just as well for wine. I found out a few other things...Your primary fermation container can be a plastic food grade bucket, but your secondary should be a glass jug (carboy) otherwise it might affect the taste of the wine or oxidize it. There are, however, certain grade plastic carboys (not your standard water cooler bottle) that are designed to work as your secondary and won't allow air in or plastic to affect the wine's taste. One other thing...Bottle fillers are a MUST. It's a $2 plastic tube that sticks on the end of your siphon hose. Push it's button end into the bottom of your bottle and it lets the wine flow. Let it flow to the rim of the bottle and when you pull it out the wine stops and the wand being removed will put the perfect amount of headspace (air) at the top of the bottle. Works like a charm and is so much easier then trying to pinch the siphon hose or stop it some other way. Yeast...If you use bread yeast or something it will not taste as good and will foam a lot, requiring a lot of head space in your primary or secondary. Many yeasts made for wine making such as Champain yeast don't foam much at all, so you can fill the bucket up to say 2 or 3 inches from the top and not worry about it foaming over. Air is killer, so when you fill the secondary you use the "three finger" rule in that the air space between the wine and the stopper should only be three fingers wide. Only "splash rack" (pour through a funnel) your wine the first one or two rackings so any bad sulpher gas/odor gets released. After that you want to avoid exposing it to the air by siphoning the wine and keeping the tube at the bottom of the jug your are siphoning to so it flows in and doesn't pour in. I've got some more pics/progress on the stick glider that I'll be posting in a day or two. It's almost done.
Posted on: 12/9/2010 11:12 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10186515

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
I'm happy to say that our first wine making attempt using Pears (wine made with pears is called a Perry) came out great! We just bottled it yesterday at almost 9 weeks, and I'm sure we could have bottled it sooner as the first 3 or 4 rackings we didn't know what we were doing and kept putting most of the sediment back into the jug. At our last racking about 3 weeks ago we knew not to try to recover any juice from the sediment by running it through a mesh bag. That should only be done when moved from the primary to the secondary. About a week ago the wine really got super clear with no clearing agents used or anything. At that last racking 3 weeks ago the wine was a dry wine, so we put in Sorbate, Campden, and two cups of sugar to insure the sugar wouldn't be converted. We got lucky, because we didn't use a hydrometer yet the wine is just slightly sweet like we wanted it. Having used 10 pounds of sugar along with 37 pounds of pears and 6 pounds of white rasins along with champain yeast in the primary (7 gallon, 5 gallon secondary) it had converted all that to alchohol, so though it doesn't taste strong it sure will hammer you back after about 16 ounces of the stuff. Gave me a nice buzz. I couldn't be happier with it and I'll post the recipe in that wine making forum I told you about in the "fast wines" thread in the beginners forum in a day or so along with another "wine" (perry) recipe using pears that uses apples as the secondary fruit instead of the rasins. This one also says it can be bottled in weeks as well.
Posted on: 12/9/2010 8:56 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10186266

RE: Stryker Mods From The Darkside Part 2 (Bullet Proof A Stryker)
Had a few people ask where I've been. Mostly involved in metal detecting for old coins with my spare time this summer. I'm starting to build a bit again which gives me something to do during the winter months. The strength/convienence mods for the Stryker found in this thread based on the old school days of the Dark Side threads is still what I've found to be the best way to build the bird, so I really haven't had much to say on any evolution in that. The yellow bird I built a while back is still in great shape, and not having to experiment with build mods with that platform anymore I spend more of my time with my true love these days- Hotwiring EPS custom builds of my own design. I do have a dual boom pusher EDF platform in the works that looks a lot like the Stryker in style and will post some photos in the future as progress is made. Right now I'm working on a stick glider using carbon arrow shafts for the fuse. This plane should have the lowest wing loading I've ever built as I tend to build my planes with strength in mind as my primary goal and weight as a secondary. This build should ride on the lightest of thermals and also float along near ground level at walking speed with ease. I'm using a blue wonder with a custom wind to power it and a 750 3 cell Rhino. Also a first for me, as my standard plane battery is always a 2250ma 3 cell. Hope all is well with the original Dark Side guys when it first came about. Those were the days when true inovation was being made. Just about all the mods found in this thread are thanks to the initial hard work and experimenation done by the likes of Cadetman, GlacierGirl, Hagar, and a few others.
Posted on: 12/6/2010 6:35 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Park Flyers & Backyard Flyers"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10179804

RE: Here's A Simple & FREE First Foam Build Plan! (Part 2)
Saucerguy, I too feel I should have got into wine/perry/beer making a long time ago. It's fun and also for me as well saving money is a big factor. I also don't have the patience for making wine that takes 6 months or more before you can bottle and drink it. That's why I started the "FAST" wine thread in the beginners forum on that wine making forum I told you about. It's the first one that pops up if you do a Google search for "wine making forum". Since I have three 5 gallon carboys now I can afford to use one or two of them for the slower stuff that takes 6 months or longer, while the third will be devoted to faster stuff that takes 3 months or less to bottle. The pear is our first attempt and like I said making wine with pears is really called a Perry and takes like 2 months or less to bottle. We are over two months into it and we plan to bottle about a week before Christmas to give away as gifts. Regardless of how fast or slow the wine takes, they say to wait about two weeks after bottling to get rid of what they call bottle shock which takes away from the taste. Our next "fast" wine is going to be using Great Value Walmart brand Peach/white grape juice. You can bottle it in like two to three months. I'm also going to make that Skeeter Pee which is hard lemondade with about twice the alchohol of something like Mike's Hard Lemonade and can bottle in a month. Yes, we used Champain yeast for the pear wine. We had put 10 pounds of sugar into the primary and it was done fermenting in about 12 days and it's a dry wine now by taste having converting all the sugar to alchohol, because champain yeast can survive in higher alchohol contents. We then back sweatened it two months down the road with 4 or 5 cups of sugar to taste. To do that you put in more Campden tablets at 1 per gallon and then Sorbate to stop the yeast from working anymore so it doesn't convert the sugar and stays sweet. We are using wine bottles with screw on caps which is fine. You just buy new caps at the wine store. However, I've got a friend saving me corked wine bottles from a restraunt he works at and I'm going to buy a corker for the next batch we make. For the Skeeter Pee and beer I plan to make I've been drinking beers with caps that need a bottle opener and have about two dozen saved so far. I think you need 52 12 oz bottles for 5 gallons. For 5 gallons of wine in normal wine bottles I think you need about 27 of those bottles or so. I've found a good 24 beer bottle. It's the pint/8 oz Heiniken green bottle, so I'd need about 26 of those. A friend also just bought a copper still for making his own distilled alchohol. Man, 5 gallons distills down to only about half a gallon or so. That seems like a huge loss to me. They don't even use anything but sugar and Turbo yeast to make the stuff they distill down, then add it to whatever for taste when bottling. The thing about getting wine to clear from what I've been told is that so long as there isn't a ton of sediment in it from the initial racking (the fruit) or a lot of dead yeast then it really doesn't affect the taste. It's more of a looks thing because some people get funky about drinking a cloudy drink. I know what you mean about beer. I mostly drink cheap like Miller High Life but if a dark beer or lager is done right I like the taste so much better. I've had some homemade dark beer a friend made and it's so much better tasting. Most of the commercial stuff around here tastes like water to me with no flavor or character, unless you are willing to fork out big money for the imported stuff. The version of the "So" I posted above is not my plane but rather a friend's who I got into using EPS foam. The remarks posted were in quotes because that's him talking there above. He is heavy into First Person View video flying and he built that plane for that. Yes, sweeping wings too far forward gets real tricky with COG. I've build a few severly swept planes so far including a bird of prey and none of them flew. Could never get COG and other issues worked out. My glider with the 6 foot wingspan and now this stick glider have only the trailing edge swept forward and only mildly so it doesn't get picky about COG and things. What I like about forward sept wings is they seem to track better and also aren't as prone to tip stalling.
Posted on: 12/6/2010 6:24 AM by Author "critterhunter" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10179783